Invest in quality photography.
If your design project involves images or visuals that need to convey a central message, a quality photo-shoot is definitely called for. A well executed photo-shoot will do wonders for your marketing materials, will convey integrity and will lift your brand’s appearance to a higher extent.
If your company’s offerings don’t call for a photo-shoot, then stock photography may be the solution. Be aware that also stock photography may not be very good, so it is important to really pick out what will best work for your strategy. Bear in mind that cliches such as a smiling, happy-go-lucky operators on your ‘contact us’ page; a strong hand-shake belonging to suited-up young men on your ‘client’s’ ppt slide will not give your composition any added value-- no matter how well the image is shot.
So don’t take the easy way out- stick with your strategy.

Companies invest in content that exists in collateral and marketing materials intended for off-line experience. What companies sometimes miss, is that information in these materials (brochures, catalogs, flyers etc.) is not suitable for implementing in the company′s site as is. This is where content editors/consultants/ copywriters/online marketers come in to adjust the content and make it suitable for the web and effective for search engines.

Make it short
Summarizing and categorizing content is key. Get more pages with shorter stories rather than multiple long stories on one page with a large scroll. This way you will not tire your reader and you will be more noticeable in search engines.

Thinking internet marketing
Marketers need to make sure the site′s content speaks in the same language as your users, considering your visitor′s expectations, making sure that everything is easy it is to absorb, fast.

Web media offers many advantages over printed collateral, so take advantage.
For example: long texts can be divided into topics and categories, including links to generate interest (which also aids seo), using video to illustrate messages, combining pictures for simple demonstration, linking to other sites that facilitate further explanations, etc..

Design
Great design leads to a great experience. All of the greatest content in the world will be lost if the design is not appropriate. 

To be continued... (look out for 2010 web design blog)